There’s no doubting who the best footballer in the world has been in the past 12 months, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi. The speed, skill and close control of the little magician who was crowned as the FIFA World Player of the Year is simply remarkable and unsurprisingly the Nou Camp crowd have come to love the attacker who helped to demolish Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in the Champions League this year. Now set to be the man around whom Diego Maradona’s Argentina World Cup squad is selected, Messi has the chance to recreate the brilliance of Maradona at Mexico 1986 in South Africa 2010.

The player who runs faster with the ball than without can draw on the help of a revolutionary boot in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, the Adidas F50 adiZero. Weighing in at just 165 grams, the F50 is the lightest boot ever made and is set to transform the beautiful game. Unbelievably weighing the same as a Frisbee, the F50 is a huge innovation in football boots and is an example of just how much football has changed in recent years. From players’ diet to their professionalism and their equipment, it’s no wonder that some of the best football is being played today, most of it by Lionel Messi.

Messi won’t be the only player wearing the F50 at the 2010 World Cup. The new weapon will be worn by the world’s leading players including his new Barcelona teammate and deadly Spanish striker David Villa. Who would bet against those two meeting at some stage in the 2010 World Cup, maybe even the final? To win the boots head to www.facebook.com/adidasfootball and enter the ‘fast’ knowledge competition, so you’ll at least be on par with Messi in one respect. Here’s Messi and Villa showing just how fast they can go in these boots, running even faster than France legend Zinedine Zidane in a quick car!